Kurds ‘burn down thousands of Arab homes’ in northern Iraq

BAGHDAD // Kurdish forces have bulldozed, blown up and burned down thousands of Arab homes across northern Iraq in what may constitute a war crime, Amnesty International said yesterday. The human rights watchdog found evidence of a “concerted campaign” by the Kurds to uproot Arab communities in revenge for their perceived support of ISIL, according to Amnesty’s latest report. Since the militant group seized control of about one third of Iraq in the summer of 2014, Kurdish peshmerga forces have driven the insurgents back in the north of Iraq with the help of air strikes from a US-led coalition. The peshmerga have also expanded their control to include ethnically mixed territories they claim as their own.

“KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government] forces appear to be spearheading a concerted cam- paign to forcibly displace Arab communities by destroying entire villages in areas they have recaptured from ISIL in northern Iraq,” said Amnesty’s senior crisis response advisor, Donatella Rovera.

“The forced displacement of civilians and the deliberate destruction of homes and property without military justification, may amount to war crimes.”

Dindar Zebari, the head of the KRG’s committee to respond to international reports, said the damage documented by Amnesty was a result of fighting between the peshmerga and ISIL militants, as well as air strikes and booby-traps left behind by the militants.

The report – based on field investigation in 13 villages and towns, and testimony gathered from more than 100 witnesses – also included satellite imagery showing large-scale destruction of homes in Nineveh, Kirkuk and Diyala provinces. Arabs who fled their homes have also been barred by Kurdish forces from returning to areas recaptured from ISIL, Amnesty said.

In response to the forced displacement of Arabs, Mr Zebari said the coalition had requested civilians be kept away from areas close to the front line, and that Kurds too were prevented from returning to some recaptured villages for their own safety.

Mr Zebari noted that the Kurd- istan region has accommodated 700,000 Arabs fleeing violence in the rest of the country.

Amnesty urged the coalition to ensure that any assistance provided to the KRG was not fuelling abuses, which it described as an attempt to reverse the Arabisation campaign conducted under former dictator Saddam Hussein, when thousands of Kurds were uprooted.